Propositions 30, 38 set to go head-to-head

SACRAMENTO -- As Gov. Jerry Brown and wealthy civil-rights attorney Molly Munger brace for a fall showdown over their initiatives to raise taxes for schools, educators are agonizing over picking sides.

The state's two largest teachers unions -- the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers -- are putting their muscle behind Brown's ballot measure, Proposition 30, while the less powerful state PTA supports Proposition 38, bankrolled almost entirely by Munger.

But across the Bay Area and throughout the state, teachers and school boards are torn. Some like Proposition 38 better because they believe it'll pump a greater and more stable stream of revenue into the state's K-12 school system, but also believe it will most likely be defeated at the polls. Many educators are walking on egg shells to avoid a bitter ballot war, fearful it could doom both initiatives.

"It's in our best interest to support both initiatives in hopes that one of them passes," said Frank Biehl, president of the East Side Union High School District board in San Jose, which recently voted to support Proposition 30 but would not back his motion to support Proposition 38. "I'm just worried that we may not get anything passed."

If both initiatives pass, the one with the most votes will take effect.

But if neither does, districts face severe reductions in the length of the school year -- perhaps by as much as three weeks. Brown in June signed a budget that would trigger $5.9 billion in cuts -- mostly to schools -- if his measure fails.

Some school districts, including Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego, have hedged their bets, endorsing both measures, as has the California School Boards Association. Also supporting both propositions are the Palo Alto school board, the San Francisco school board, the Santa Clara County Board of Education and the San Mateo County Board of Education.

Though Munger has touted Prop. 38 as the superior measure, she supports a "yes-yes" voting strategy. But she also welcomes voters who prefer to vote yes on 38 and no on 30.

Both sides have made peace offerings to each other to avoid a campaign bloodletting that could turn off voters, but grenades continue to get lobbed between the two campaigns.

Last month, supporters of Brown's measure, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, asked Munger's campaign to stop criticizing Prop. 30, proposing that the two campaigns pledge to refrain from attacking each other. But the idea went nowhere.

PTA President Carol Kocivar complained that allies of Prop. 30 had written ballot arguments against Prop. 38. And now both campaigns are ramping up for a televised air war.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, is delighted. "When your adversaries are engaged in a battle, the best thing to do is step out of the way," Coupal said. "We've seen some pretty aggressive posturing between the two, and I don't see that letting up between now and November."

The association this week began running a statewide radio ad targeting Brown's measure. Coupal said his group is less worried about Prop. 38, which he views as less viable.

The governor argues that Prop. 30 is the better because, at least in the short term, it fends off billions in devastating cuts to schools. But Munger argues that her initiative provides an unprecedented infusion of money into a moribund school system for 12 years.

"What else can we do?'' she asked this newspaper's editorial board this week. "Let's make it happen for our kids."

The full effect of her measure won't be felt for the first four years, when schools would get about 60 percent of the $10 billion in yearly taxes through 2016-17 -- with the rest going to early-childhood care and paying off state debt.

Prop. 30 has consistently had higher popular support in polls, probably because most of the tax hikes would fall on the wealthy.

Munger's measure tests voters' willingness to dig into their own pockets because the tax burden would be distributed among almost all income groups.

"Everyone seems to be confused about the two propositions," said Poon, executive director of the education-advocacy group Parents for Great Education.

Tom Lynch, who serves on the executive board of Alameda County's Peralta District PTA, has been -- along with his organization -- campaigning for Munger's "Our Children, Our Future" initiative. But Lynch knows Munger's measure is the underdog. "I, myself, favor Proposition 38, but I'm also realistic that we can't afford for both of them to lose," he said. "When people ask me, I say, 'Vote for both.' "

Dan Reynolds, an English and film studies teacher at Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, said it was important to him that Prop. 30 would raise income taxes on only the wealthiest Californians, "those who can most afford to pay."

Sam Davis, an Oakland parent, is worried sick about more potential cuts. A former adult education teacher who lost his job when the school district closed all of its adult schools in 2010, he said he's hoping to dispel a sense of complacency among parents at the high-performing language immersion school, Manzanita SEED.